TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – The provincial administration of North Kalimantan has set a target to start North Kalimantan-East Kalimantan toll road construction project next year.

“We have set the goal of starting construction of the Berau-Bulungan section of the toll road next year,” North Kalimantan Governor Zainal Arifin Paliwang said.

This year, due to financial conditions, the project to build a toll road had not been feasible, Paliwang noted in a statement quoted by ANTARA in Tanjung Selor on Saturday.

As part of the toll road project, Paliwang said he met with East Kalimantan Governor Isran Noor in Tanjung Redep, Berau, East Kalimantan Province on Friday.

He had also discussed the matter with East Kalimantan legislature chairman Makmur HAPK, who paid him a courtesy visit to Tanjung Selor, Bulungan, on Thursday.

Paliwang said he had reached an agreement with his counterpart, Isran Noor, to work together on the construction of the Berau-Bulungan toll road section.

The provincial government of North Kalimantan is responsible for constructing part of the toll road section located within its administrative area.

At the same time, the provincial government of East Kalimantan will do its part, he noted, adding that the distance between Bulungan and the land border of Berau is around 70 kilometers.

Meanwhile, the distance between Berau and the Bulungan land border in North Kalimantan is around 50 to 60 kilometers, he said.

Construction work on the toll road is expected to start as planned to boost regional development and enable better connectivity between residents of the two provinces, he noted.

Since the first and second terms of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), infrastructure has assumed particular importance, as the remarkable extension of toll roads bears witness to.

According to the Ministry of Public Works and Housing, during President Jokowi’s first term, at least 941 kilometers of toll roads and 3,423 kilometers of national roads were constructed.

Work on the Trans-Java Highway that connects Merak ferry port in Banten province to Surabaya, the capital of East Java province, has been completed, reducing travel time and current logistics costs .

As part of the priority development projects of the central government, the toll roads are not only built in Java, but they are also built outside the island, such as Sumatra, Kalimantan and Sulawesi.

Lily: Hundreds of workers gather at Cikarang tollgate as access to Bekasi is closed

ANTARA